I dont ever remember being afraid of oldness.There are things I miss about being younger - chiefly the ability to pull all-nighters and keep working and working well; and being smiled at by girls I didnt know who thought I was cute; and I wish I had the eyesight I had even five years ago but that stuff feels pretty trivial. Im happier than Ive been at any time in my life these days. I have a wonderful wife whom I adore, watched three amazing kids grow into two delightful adults and my favourite teenager, an astonishing number of grand life experiences, Ive made art Im proud of, I have real, true, glorious friends, and Ive been able to do real good for things I care about, like freedom of speech, like libraries.Sometimes Ill do something like An Evening With Neil and Amanda, or the 8 in 8 project, and completely surprise myself.I miss friends who have died, but then, Im glad that time gave them to me, to befriend, even for a while, and that I was alive to know them. I knew Douglas Adams, and I knew Roger Zelazny, and I knew John M Ford, and I knew Diana Wynne Jones do you know how lucky that makes me?Ah, Im rabbiting on, and I sound a bit more Pollyannaish than Im intending to sound: I know the downside of age and the downside of time, and I am sure that the view from age 51 is not the view from age 71.I wish the time hadnt gone so fast, though. And sometimes I wish Id enjoyed it more on the way, and worried about it less.
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About Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman was a 20th-century English writer. Neil Richard MacKinnon Gaiman is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, audio theatre, and screenplays. His works include the comic series The Sandman (1989–1996) and the novels Good Omens (1990), Stardust (1999), American Gods (2001), Coraline (2002), Anansi Boys (2005), The Graveyard Book (2008) and The Ocean at the End of the Lane (2013). Read more on Wikipedia →
Themes
- Inspirational — Uplifting words to motivate and inspire positive action